


liability

by howyoubrewing



Series: skyguy and snips [1]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Family, Loss, Master & Padawan Relationship(s), Protectiveness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-06-28
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:40:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24956239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/howyoubrewing/pseuds/howyoubrewing
Summary: When another Master loses their Padawan, Anakin realizes how afraid he is of losing his.
Series: skyguy and snips [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1932007
Comments: 2
Kudos: 99





	liability

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this pretty quickly (working full time is no joke!) after it came to me one day. Enjoy and have a wonderful day :)

Anakin worries too much about her.

The fear of Ahsoka being hurt on missions is always there, present and ready to surge forwards into a larger panic during a battle if he loses contact with her or feels any hint of pain at her end of their training bond. He keeps it at bay, mostly, but as the war thickens and the fighting gets worse, the missions darker, he can’t shake the possibility of losing her. He wishes he could protect her from the bloody battles, the heavy losses and violent campaigns that chip away at her childlike innocence with each clone shot dead. Wishes he could prevent her from having the nightmares that make her scream in terror and break down into tears in the ungodly hours of the night.

Despite the Jedi Code, which he barely follows anyways to be honest, he feels far too deep of an attachment for his apprentice. They have the bond of siblings—working side-by-side, anticipating the other’s thoughts and moves, knowing the other’s fears and vulnerabilities. But he also has a fierce, almost fatherly protective instinct over her. He has helped raise her, after all, and is incredibly proud of the young Jedi she’d become. She is his family.

He’s been feeling better about Ahsoka going on her own missions here and there—she comms him often, and he keeps reminding himself that she is perfectly capable of handling her own. He’s taught her that much, at least. Even Obi-Wan has praised him for displaying less attachment and more confidence in her. Ahsoka’s been gone for almost a week now, due back any day now, and while he is excited for her to be back, he’s less anxious than usual.

That is, until he feels a faint sense of grief in the Force as he walks to the Council chambers, called for a mission update on the Outer Rim campaign.

_What’s happened?_

He hurries into the room, scanning for Obi-Wan, locking eyes with the man and sending a very concerned look of questioning. Almost imperceptibly, the man shakes his head, and Anakin is flooded with relief. _It’s not about Ahsoka._

But still. Something is…wrong. Lost. Someone is dead, he realizes blankly.

Master Yoda, his wizened old face set in a melancholy expression, addresses the Council. “Gone awry, the battle in the Outer Rim has. Terribly sorry, to hear of your loss, we are, Master.”

Anakin registers finally that Master Tiplar is the center of attention, standing in the middle of the Council chambers with a deep look of grief etched on her face. She barely responds to Yoda’s sentiments. Her Padawan, whose name he can’t recall, is not attached to her side like she normally is.

Wait…

A pang goes through him as he puts the pieces together. How lost Master Tiplar looked, how heavy the Force felt. The extra lightsaber clipped to her belt that wasn’t hers…

_No._

It had been a while since a Padawan had been killed in action, but the reality hits him like a bolt of lightning. It was _real,_ it had just happened to another Master. Why couldn’t it happen to him?

That could have been Ahsoka.

He can’t shake the cold feeling even as the meeting adjourns and the Council discusses funeral preparations. He tries to call Rex, to check on the missions’ progress since Ahsoka was deployed with the 501st, but the frequency isn’t picked up—they must be in the midst of a fight. He knows Ahsoka will feel too coddled if he calls her directly and “checks on her progress”.

 _Stop treating me like a youngling, Master. I can do this._ He can hear her voice sassing him in his mind. He misses it.

Anakin doesn’t sleep much that night, consumed with anxiousness over his Padawan and all the things that could go wrong. What if she gets injured? What if her and the men are outnumbered?

He’s more than relieved when Rex calls him the next morning on his holo, looking battle-weary but uninjured. “We’re coming out of hyperspace over Coruscant, sir,” Rex announces dutifully. “My apologies for not alerting you sooner. We had quite the campaign there, knocked out our comms for a while.”

“Where’s Ahsoka?” Anakin tries to sound extremely nonchalant, but Rex nods knowingly.

“Filling out some mission reports, sir. She’s doing fine. She told me to go check in with you, wanted to knock them out before getting back.”

He wants to roll his eyes. Of course she would. “Alright. I’ll meet your ship at the hangar in a few.” Until he sees Ahsoka with his own eyes, he isn’t sure he can calm the worry in his gut. He’s felt so off, so fearful because of Master Tiplar losing her own Padawan.

The transport ships from the _Resolute_ finally arrive, landing in a neat line in the hangar. The clones disembarking are mostly in good condition, an encouraging sign. He scans the ships for the familiar blue and white—

Finally. He lets out a sigh of relief as the doors slide open to reveal Ahsoka and she hops off, looking for him as well. She catches his eyes and shoots him a grin—she looks tired from the mission, a little disheveled, but still stands tall and confident. A born leader. He smiles back at her, the Force humming happily at the reunion.

“Hey, Master! How’s life at the Temple been?” Ahsoka teases, her smile contagious even through the dirt and battle grime streaking her face.

 _She’s fine. She is happy and alive and safe,_ he internalizes. _It was not your Padawan who died. Perhaps it never will be._

Before he can really stop himself he pulls her into a hug, thanking the Force that she is here physically and intact. Ahsoka makes a surprised noise (her Master was hard to read, often, and didn’t normally give her a hug in front of others) but then squeezer her arms around him too, chuckling at the display of attachments.

“I’m really glad you’re back, Snips,” Anakin forces a casual tone. She looks at him a little strangely as he pulls away, but punches his arm playfully all the same.

“You didn’t get all overprotective and worried this time, did you Skyguy?” They turn and head to their quarters, and he shoves her back, laughing.

“Of course not, Snips. Wherever did you get that idea?”

They banter all the way back, and he finds himself slowly releasing his fears back into the Force. Maybe not permanently, but for now they have subsided. They have a mission scheduled together, in a few days, and he can stay by her and make sure nothing happens.

Ahsoka is upbeat, but he sees the way her shoulders slump in exhaustion once she shuts the door behind him. She flops onto her bed, kicking off her boots and rubbing at her eyes.

“You didn’t get any scrapes or things that Kix needs to look at, do you?” He pesters, giving her a once-over. He pokes her cheek. “You need to get some sleep, you look beat.”

Ahsoka rolls her eyes at him. “My whole body hurts, Skyguy, but I’m not bleeding out or anything.” He still isn’t a fan of the bruises and cuts on her arms, or the circles under her eyes, but he lets it pass. He doesn’t sense any pain from her in their bond.

Did Master Tiplar feel it when her Padawan died? Feel the pain of a life being snuffed out? Did she feel their bond snap and vanish, gone as quickly as her Padawan’s cold body hit the ground?

“Master,” she interrupts his thoughts, looking at him knowingly. “I’m fine. Something is bothering _you_. Why are you so distressed?”

He sighs heavily, scrubbing a hand over his face. He should know he can’t hide much of his emotions from her.

“You’re babying me even more than usual,” she implores pointedly. “Did something happen?”

He sits on the bed next to her, trying to find the words. “I…there was a meeting today. A mission went badly, and…Master Tiplar’s Padawan was killed.”

Ahsoka is silent, taking in the gravity of his words, putting the pieces together. She probably trained with the dead Padawan at some point, he also realizes. “Oh.” Her voice is small.

“I know you are capable of leading missions. I’m proud of you. You’re an incredible commander. I just—”

“You were afraid,” she verbalizes for him, softly. “That it might happen to me.”

“It could have been you, Snips. What if…what if I lost you? In battle, or while you were away--” He lets himself trail off, saying it out loud making it more of a threat. “I just…I don’t know what I would do.”

“I don’t know what I would do either. If something happened to you, I mean.” She pauses. “Does that make us bad Jedi?”

He chuckles wryly. If only she knew the extent of a bad Jedi he was—how could he ever lecture her on attachments? He was too attached to her and too attached to his kriffing _wife_ , for Force sake. He wasn’t going to be a hypocrite. “I don’t really know, Snips. I don’t care that much. You and Obi-Wan, you’re the only family I have. It’s just natural that I worry about you.”

Ahsoka thinks over her words carefully, before admitting, “I have nightmares sometimes about losing you. And Master Obi-Wan. And Rex. You’re all I have, you know? No one wanted me when I was a youngling, my own people didn’t want me. And I finally have a family who cares. What if—”

“Hey,” he says gently, putting an arm around her, “I’ll always be here for you. You’re not gonna lose me. I’ve got your back, you have mine, and we stick together. I would never let anyone hurt you, Snips.”

Ahsoka leans her head on his shoulder and he smiles. He hears her breathing slow a little, the exhaustion of the mission catching up with her small body at last. His sister, his family, safe here next to him. “Love you, Master,” she murmurs sleepily into his shoulder as she nods off.

“You too, Snips,” he whispers, easing her head to the pillow and tucking a blanket over her. He watches her breaths steady, finally content that she is safe and sound here in their quarters.

For the first time in a while, he feels at peace.


End file.
